In Which I Contemplate Trees, Turtles and Humans

Feb. 4--Cedar Lake, shadows on snow.

Feb. 4--20 mile ride today. Pretty light and shadows at Mount Calvary Cemetery.

It’s been a while, bike pals. The weather in Iowa this February has been all over the place. Deep cold, followed by spring warm, followed by snowfalls (missed school on two Thursdays in a row due to snow, and snow is in the forecast for next week—on Thursday).

I’ve managed a couple of rides on my road bike Argent, but most riding in February, due to ice and snow, has been on The Fancy Beast, my trusty old mountain bike.

Two of my longer rides were Friday, Feb. 17 and today, Feb. 18.  It snowed 7 inches or so on Thursday, so no riding that day. Friday morning the wind-chill was well below zero, so I drove to work. But by afternoon it was in the low 20s. I came home in the afternoon, donned my winter gear and headed out.

Feb. 10--Low sun at bridge on Lindale Trail.

I decided to ride close to home. Due to snow the day before, I wanted to do trails, which I knew would be reasonably ride-able. I headed up C Avenue to the Lindale Trail and rode towards the new trail that goes behind Linn-Mar High School.

I gambled that the short stretch on unpaved trail would be OK, because although the sun was melting some snow on pavement, I figured the limestone surface would be mostly frozen. Despite some soft spots, it was OK.

I was riding late in the afternoon, and as light faded and the wind picked up a bit, I admit was getting a bit cold. My feet, in particular, were letting me know that they were displeased with my life decision, but I pushed on. If cold, it was also quite sunny and pretty. The later afternoon light in February is quite nice.

Feb. 17--Sunshine on Lindale Trail. Trail mostly clear day after snowfall.

Feb. 17--I notice something in the woods near Linn-Mar High School. See how the trees are all close in size and growing in neat rows?

Feb. 17--Shadow of CR Biker on trail during afternoon ride.

Feb. 17--Bike in front of my house before afternoon ride.

As I rode behind the high school, I noticed something I hadn’t before. The woods along the creek—the trees are approximately the same trunk size. And they are growing in rows, like a field of corn.

This “woods” isn’t the wilds at all—I’m riding by a cultivated field of trees. When were they planted? What was the goal of the tree planter not so many years ago? I enjoy these woods, and my pleasure at them isn’t lessened realizing that they didn’t spring spontaneously, but were planned and planted.

Today, it was warmer, more comfortable, for riding, although the sunshine was less intense, the sky a bit milky. I headed east on the trail, the goal today was Waldo’s Rock Park.

Feb. 18--Mystery bike near Waldo's Rock on Grant Wood Trail. A child's bike, but no child.

Geese fly over Waldo's Rock at Waldo's Rock Park.

Feb. 18--Another biker circles pond at Waldo's Rock Park.

While I was paused, making some images, another biker stopped and chatted. He rides around the Waldo’s Rock pond often in summer, and remarked it lacks turtles—possible because it lacks logs or rocks at its edge. Turtles need basking spots to warm themselves, and he is hoping the city will add some stones or something for their sake.

Another human intervention in the landscape. One that I wouldn’t mind—rocks and turtles at Waldo’s Rock. Sounds good, to me.

Winter is still hanging on. Some days. It’s spring on other days. Biking continues, and, I hope, will increase in coming weeks.

Except on Thursdays. These days, every Thursday is snowstorm day.

So far in February, 97.7 miles. Year’s total so far, 228.52 miles.

In Which I Take the Plunge in New Light

Jan. 24--A snowy, slow morning commute. All of my rides recently have been on The Fancy Beast, my mountain bike.

Jan. 24--Same street, framed by my bike. Like my fancy rubber band system for holding the computer?

January 2023 is over. Did I ride more this month than in 2022?

Yeah. But not impressively so. In 2022, I rode 115.3 miles in January. In 2023, I rode 130.8 miles. So I gained 15.5 miles.

Well, a gain is a gain. As I age, I’m finding I’m a bit less cold tolerant, and to be fair, the fierce arctic cold snap we had in the second half of January this year, which cost me about a week of riding, is just the kind of thing that can happen at this time of year. Any miles at all in January, particularly a few more than the year before, thus counts as a win.

And it is now February. I rode 7 miles on Feb. 1 to start the new month. With clear, sunny days and a white snow pack, the light lately has been very pretty even if the temperature hasn’t always been biker friendly. The wind chill was minus 3 this morning, but with enough bundling, I was OK to ride. The days are slowly getting longer, the sun is slowly climbing in the sky, and we’re slowing starting to exit the dead of winter. With luck, maybe we’ve seen the coldest weather we’ll get. Hope I’m not jinxing it.

Jan. 24--We had snow on the weekend, and someone made and dressed this snowman, seen on my ride home from work. Closeup below.

Besides wind chills in the double digits below zero Fahrenheit that cut into my bike riding time, I’ve also struggled with some mechanical issues. My Elemnt computer stopped communicating with my phone, and I sent a “help me” message to the company. They responded with a couple of helpful emails, but their fixes (restoring factory settings and reconnecting) did not solve the problem—and to provide further help, the Wahoo company wanted a copy of my original sales receipt.

Which I never had. The computer was a gift. It was from my wife, so I suppose at one time the receipt was in our house, but we’re talking about a gift given more than a year ago. I don’t know about  you, dear reader, but no, neither I nor my wife catalog all old sales receipts, so help on the tech problem came to an end.

Well, no more ride maps for me. I may try to reinstall Map my Ride on my phone. At least the computer unit does still measure speed and record miles ridden.

Jan. 29--Waiting for the light at the corner of C Avenue and Collins Road. It's cold, but the winter sun is pretty.

A flat tyre, however, caused even more havoc. I purchased a tube for my hybrid bike and proceeded to change out the old tube to fix the flat. I’ve changed hundreds of flat tyres in five decades on two wheels, but this time, when putting the wheel back on, I accidentally popped off the nut at the end of the axle. Meh. But before I got it back on, part of the axle came out and the wheel started giving birth to ball bearings.

Never in my 50 years of serious bike riding and incompetent bike maintenance has that happened before. I was having a rough day when this particular disaster happened, and it did nothing to improve my mood. A simple tube swap has become an expensive problem that will involve a bike shop before the hybrid is rideable again.

It was a Sunday, I had too much work to do for school that week, and I had gotten a late start on a cold bike ride to campus. Lucky I have three bikes.

Anyway, so I was in a bit of a sour mood—but it lifted a bit later one. It happened to be the Sunday after the Saturday when RAGBRAI announced their route. It’s the 50th ride (51 years of RAGBRAI, but 2020, so it’s actually the 50th ride). It will go through Ames, Des Moines, Tama-Toledo, Coralville and end in Davenport—none of those places are terribly far from Cedar Rapids. It’s not as great as if they actually rolled through Iowa’s second city, but I’ll take it.

I was thinking about how I would sell the idea of my rejoining Team Joe to my wife, when she said, sans any prompting, once she saw the route: “Why don’t you go ahead and register?”

And I did. I took the plunge. CR Biker’s awful day of computer glitches and ball bearing escapes ended on a happier note. I’m registered as a rider for RAGBRAI 2023.

Image posted on Facebook by RAGBRAI, the 2023 route. Not sure I'll go all the way to Sioux City, but I may start in Ames or Carroll. In any event, I registered as a rider this year.

It just got a bit easier to meet my higher miles goal for 2023. I’ll gain a few hundred in July—and I now have incentive to push it when nice weather rolls around. I know from personal experience that the main prep needed for a RAGBRAI is as much saddle time as possible. Yes, train on hills. Yes, work on distance. But most of all, get your butt in gear and in shape for long sits on the seat..

In the depth of winter, 2023, for me, is looking a little brighter. As long as my ball bearings stay in place.

Feb. 1--It's not exactly spring, but at least in late afternoon as I get ready for the ride home, for once I don't need to turn on my lights.